Ian, Thank you for your very clear and helpful answers.
I did de-install the 32-bit version of Python, and re-installed the 64 bit version. After that, installing pygame went smoothly. I don't want to bother getting the python3 command working - it's just not important to me. But I would strongly suggest to whoever in is charge of that part of the pygame site, that they change the instructions to simply be: pip install pygame or pip3 install pygame It would have saved me a lot of time. Thanks again very much, Irv > On May 16, 2017, at 5:46 PM, Ian Mallett <i...@geometrian.com> wrote: > > On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 5:28 PM, Irv Kalb <i...@furrypants.com > <mailto:i...@furrypants.com>> wrote: > 1) What does the error message associated with the: "python3 -m pip install > pygame -- user " mean? > Exactly what it says. It's not recognized as a program. This means that it > can't find "python3.exe", "python3.bat", or anything else named "python3" on > your PATH. > Obviously it is not recognizing 'python3' - what do I do to fix that? > Since you clicked the add-to-path option in the installer, probably Python > is already on your PATH. I think the issue is, on Windows, it's "python.exe", > not "python3.exe". Does using "python" instead of "python3" work? > Is fixing that important if I don't intend to use the command line for > development? > Not really, no. If you want to "fix" it, you can make a symlink to the > "python.exe" named "python3.exe", or something. Something like: > cd C:/Python36 > mklink /D python3.exe python.exe > I personally have it set up a little differently, with subversions for > testing: I have e.g. "python27.exe", "python35.exe", etc.. > > 2) Why do the instructions on the official pygame site tell users to use > this command, which generates an error, when the "pip install pygame" or > "pip3 install pygame" commands seem to do the job? > I don't know, but I suspect that these are UNIX-compatible commands, instead > of Windows-. > > 3) (Suggestion) Perhaps the wording for Windows installations could be > modified to include the extra step that tell users how to bring up the > command line (for people like me and my students who might now have a clue > about this). The documentation for the Mac installation could also be > modified to say that you need to bring up the terminal program to enter > commands. > I think it's a bit trivial (although for absolute newbies, I understand > perhaps not), but I don't see any reason why not. > > 4) Finally, is running Python 3.6.1 in 32 bit mode appropriate with pygame? > On a 64-bit OS, it's not ideal, but it's probably fine, so long as it works. > The important thing to note is that the Python bitiness and the PyGame (or > any other package) bitiness need to match, or you'll get cryptic errors at > runtime. > Since I have a 64 bit operating system, should I really go through the steps > again and find and install the 64 bit version of python instead? > Ideally, yes. Probably, you want to uninstall the 32-bit version first. > Why would default download default to a 32 bit version? (I understand that > these questions are out of the control of the pygame area, but I want to make > sure that I have the correct environment, and that I tell my college how to > get the correct environment for all the computers at the school.) > Unsure. 32-bit will work on 64-bit (but not vice-versa), so it's a safer > default in some sense. Still, 32-bit computers are pretty old today, and > people who have them usually know about it. I'd make the user actively > choose, without a default available—but it's sortof a UI question. > > Sorry for the length of the post, but I expected that getting this > environment set up would be a lot easier. If my students were to face these > problems trying to install it themselves, they would be completely lost and > complain bitterly. > > Irv > Ian
